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Six Principles for Harnessing Volunteers' Talents

Author Bruce Tulgan (Winning the Talent Wars)
asserts,
“In the new economy, the best people are the most likely to leave. Why? Because
they can.” Perhaps this is why management guru Tom Peters says we must be
obsessive about P.O.T., the Pursuit of Talent. While Tulgan and Peters are both
talking about paid staff in the new economy, associations and other
organizations would be wise to note the relevance of their thinking for
recruiting, developing, and rewarding volunteers. When competing for volunteer
time and talent, organizations need to have compelling value propositions to
offer.

We are told this is the
era of Me Inc., the Brand You, the Free Agent Nation, a time when everyone is
taking his/her personal portfolio of talent and auctioning it to the highest
bidder. Volunteers, however, have always been free agents. Organizations have
never been able to hold volunteers hostage as corporations hold employees with
their stock options, vested pensions, and so forth.

Sure some volunteers in
the past “toughed it out” in unfulfilling positions, because they were the
generally accepted stepping-stones to more significant leadership roles. But
volunteers have always been free to walk. The difference now is more and more of
them may be doing just that, taking their talent portfolio to volunteer
opportunities (and organizations) they find meaningful, challenging, and
rewarding.

So how do organizations
attract and reward talent-rich volunteers in this age of Me, Inc.? Tulgan
offers "a new set of organizing principles for employing people in the new
economy." These principles appear below along with commentary on their
relevance to volunteers as opposed to employees.

Talent is the show.

Talent is the show when
it comes to volunteers. Organizations need their talent, and volunteers are
looking to further develop and/or share theirs. You would be well served to
revise your recruitment brochures and methods to focus on recruiting talent
regardless of an individual's age, tenure, and so forth. Learn what talents
people can share and what talents they can teach others. Then match them with
the work to be done.

Staff the work, not
the jobs.

Spend less time
monkeying with the organizational chart. Identify the work you hope to have
volunteers do, find individuals whose talents match the work, and then create
the structure to get the work done. A few talent-rich people with lots of time
could fill what you might now list as multiple leadership positions. The work
matters, not the positions. Structure should never be an end in and of
itself. It exists only to facilitate the work being done and should be changed
freely as needed.

Pay for performance
and nothing else.

We need to break the
practice of rewarding volunteers just for showing up. If volunteers do not see
serving the organization and its mission as a privilege instead of a right, you
need to help reframe their thinking. Volunteers who do nothing more than take
up space should be cordially invited to the door. Organizations need clear
performance standards for volunteers, and these should be articulated as people
join your team. Reward results and performance … nothing else! Make results the
criteria for more prestigious positions in your organization, not simply
lengthy do-nothing tenure.

Turn managers into
coaches.

If you have recruited
for talent and provided an appropriate overview and training, your volunteers
now need coaching. Being micro-managed is one of the many pet peeves of
volunteers (ironic that this is a frustration shared by staff). If I am smart
and talented, I need to know the rules of the road, the desired end results,
and the deadlines to be met. Then I need you to get out of my way and let me
show what I can do. Think athletics: when you deal with superstars, you coach
more than manage. And if you are not recruiting superstars for your volunteer
opportunities, you should be developing those volunteers you are recruiting
into superstars.

Train for the
mission, not the long haul.

Don’t assume your most
talented volunteers have any intention of being around for the long haul. Focus
on connecting their talents and interests to the organization's current mission
and vision. If they stick around for more involvement beyond their initial
contribution, great. Just don’t organize all your recruitment and training
efforts to create volunteer "lifers" for your organization; it
probably won't happen as much as you might hope.

Create as many career
paths as you have people.

To be attractive to
potential volunteers, we need to have flexible and fluid opportunities to
leverage their time, interests, and talents for the good of the organization.
How ridiculous is it that many organizations still turn away willing and
capable volunteers because “no positions are available at this time.” Projects
and positions should always be available if the right candidates/talents
present themselves. After all, the work is never done. Try thinking of what
your organization would look like if every individualsought a
meaningful volunteer opportunity. Then organize yourself to let that become a
reality. With any amount of luck, it just might.

I once did many things for many people: strategy, speaking, program development, workshop design and more. While on extended sabbatical writing "Say Yes Less" and "A Manifesto for Macro-Management" I still do a limited number of keynotes and extended length workshops on facilitation and other core leadership topics.